Willamette’s skiing and snowboarding class for spring semester canceled, second year in a row

Skiing and snowboarding in the spring 2025 class. Art by Basil Allen.

For the past 12 years, psychology professor Mark Stewart has been leading a skiing and snowboarding class open to Willamette students of all levels, run through the local resort Mount Hood Meadows. But this year and last year, the course has been canceled due to low registration numbers.

Stewart said the class initially saw 23 students register, higher than last year, but by the start of classes that number dropped to 20, not quite enough to meet the threshold needed to ensure the course had enough funding and interest to be offered. 

By taking these lessons, students can earn course credit through the university. The class originated as part of a program similar to the Outdoor Program but was later turned into a course credit for Exercise and Health Science. It serves primarily as a more organized form of recreation for students who want to learn or continue snow sports and have the free time to do so, similar to the fencing and yoga courses also offered by the university.

Stewart has been teaching this course for years after he took over for the previous professor, Russ Cagle. Although Stewart didn’t start the class, he said that it came about from a desire to offer Willamette students a “way to kind of get away from campus” while doing something physical such as learning to ski or snowboard.

The class isn’t just for experts in skiing — or even people who have ever seen snow. For Stewart, the class is somewhat unique on Willamette’s campus because of the wide variety of people who take an interest in it, like students in the college’s American Studies Program and students from Hawaii who have never seen snow and have loved the experience. 

The class has a cap of 32 students, but as Stewart said, “In the past, we’ve had years where we’ve gotten very close to reaching the max on a bus, which is 55.” He elaborated later via email, "Each year we do our best to recruit as much as we can, but because it's a 55 passenger bus Meadows provides, we really need to get as close to 30 students as possible." 

One of the biggest barriers to joining the course, and a contributing factor for why it has failed to reach its minimum threshold the previous two years, is that the course has fees that are not covered by Willamette tuition. The fees get put directly toward the Meadows program and pay for the rental equipment, lift tickets and the bus that gets the students to and from Mount Hood. 

In the past, Willamette students looking to enjoy winter activities had to take initiative themselves to get things organized, with student-run clubs similar to the Outdoor Program renting buses to travel up the mountain. But that led to semi-dangerous scenarios, wherein student drivers would have to take the northern trek in hazardous conditions like snow. The class offers a much more well-organized — and safe — way to partake in winter sports as a group.

The program is open to more than just Willamette undergraduate students. Graduate students can enroll for the skiing and snowboarding class, and although they won’t get a credit for the class, they still get to enjoy the other perks of enrollment, like the discount for the rental equipment and additional expenses. 

Downhill skiing and snowboarding aren’t the only options. In the past, there has been interest in Nordic skiing, or cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Meadows also provides lessons and rentals for Nordic skiing, providing some flexibility in the type of snow sports a given student wants to pursue. 

The lessons for skiers and snowboarders are provided by Meadows instructors and are available for students of every level. There are advanced levels for students who are very familiar with the snowy slopes, and there are beginner lessons for students who have never seen snow before. The lessons take up two hours of the day, and the rest is for students to enjoy themselves on the mountain.